The #1 Miami Real Estate Website

Miami-Dade County Implements Mortgage Fraud Task Force

November 2, 2007 by Lucas Lechuga

Mortgage Fraud Task Force


Miami-Dade County implemented a Mortgage Fraud Task Force division to combat the high number of mortgage fraud cases in Miami-Dade County. The Mortgage Fraud Task Force website reveals that the division will be comprised of the following five committees:

  • Law Enforcement Committee - responsible for the detection, investigation, apprehension and prosecution of the mortgage fraud subjects and enterprises.

  • Legislative Committee - responsible for enhancing current laws, and creating new laws and ordinances.

  • Regulatory Committee - responsible for enhancing and enforcing regulations of all parties involved in the mortgage transaction.

  • Business Partnership Committee - responsible for creating and transmitting effective business practices to enhance cooperation with law enforcement and between different professions involved in the mortgage transaction.

  • Education Committee - responsible for creating public awareness through printed literature, newspaper articles and television reports.


It's about time something like this was enacted. Maybe now I won't need to worry about finding new fraudulent transactions in the MLS anymore when compiling my monthly indices, in particular the Brickell Condo Index. Hopefully, this action will put a stop to this type of activity.

Some arrests have been made recently. Take a look at Case #1 and Case #2 to view a nice illustration of how the fraudulent activity took place.

crack crack...That's the sound of the whip on the hind side of those who partook in fraudulent mortgage activity. These people participated in inflating the real estate bubble well beyond the point of insanity. It'll be nice once mortgage fraud becomes less commonplace. Now, we'll finally be able to get an accurate picture of the market.

13
Leave a Reply

13 Comment threads
0 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
9 Comment authors
newest oldest most voted
JM

horse. stable door. bolt.

The links aren’t working just now, possibly due to the number of hits by worried fraudsters.

Seems to me you could provide the enforcement committee with a few leads – I hope you plan to, even anonymously. (Don’t need to comment on that!)

It would be fabulous to see several high-profile cases prosecuted with severe penalties.

DAVID

Lucas,

Please clarify for me; is the mortgage fraud wholly composed of inflating the sales price in
order for the buyer to receive “cash back” at
closing? Therefore, potential fraudulent parties involved are the appraiser, real estate firm, seller, buyer, etc (if they all knowingly participated in this scheme)?

Thanks!

David,
The list price would be adjusted upwards so the buyer can receive cash back at closing.

Hi,

I can understand why that can happen nw, but back int he go-go years where a house would sell in a day why an owner will agree to be part of such a scheme?

Tom

There are a number of scams. The basic premise relies on a bank lending a significantly higher proportion of the value of the securing property than it is led to believe. This usually involves a fraudulent appraisal. It should be noted that there were so many sham deals in the past few years that an inflated appraisal can be easily produced by using the sham transactions as a basis for comparable sales. 1. The fake deposit: Person A wants to sell for $100,000. A potential buyer, Person B, does not qualify for 100% financing. Person A raises his selling price… Read more »

Great comment Tom. Much appreciated!

Tom, I would like permission from you to include your comment as an article in my blog.

Please email me… [email protected] so I can give you proper credit.

Thanks.

Tom

Chris,

go to town.

j

Tom- outstanding post

perez

Has it been anyone ‘s observation that in the Brickell buildings suffering allegations of mortgage fraud, and lots of foreclosures, was their common preferred lenders, brokers, etc.

I guess I’m asking are these isolated transactions that can occur anywhere, or have the fraudsters systematically worked specific condos?

I’ve heard that there was a ring of fraudsters who systematically worked certain buildings but I’m sure there could have been isolated occurrences in other neighborhoods or buildings.

Tom

perez, These guys can– and have– worked everywhere. It is pervasive. The reason we end up speaking of certain buildings is because the fraud becomes more obvious. In a condo with 300 units, an apartment becomes somewhat of a commodity– the basis of all the wonderful research Lucas puts out. And just like in commodities trading, off-market transactions stand out… and all of these transactions have been recorded in public documents. Yes, you see the same title companies, the same buyers, the same sellers, sometimes the same lenders. The difficulty in making the cases against these guys is the sheer… Read more »

[…] in Miami real estate since, say, 2004, knows that Jade’s problems are because of MORTGAGE FRAUD, overspeculation, and oversupply, NOT because of subprime lending. It is well known that Jade sold […]

For Real Estate
Related Needs And Inquiries

please complete the form below

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.